2198. The Census Of Israel

No. 2198-37:193. A Sermon Delivered On Lord’s Day Morning, April 5,
1891, By C. H. Spurgeon, At The Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington.

These are those who were numbered by Moses and Eleazar the priest,
who numbered the children of Israel in the plains of Moab by Jordan
near Jericho. But among these there was not a man of them whom Moses
and Aaron the priest numbered, when they numbered the children of
Israel in the wilderness of Sinai. For the Lord had said of them,
“They shall surely die in the wilderness.” And there was not a man
left of them, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son
of Nun.{Nu 26:63-65}

1.
We have come to another census, an important halting-place in the
march of a nation’s history. This carries our thoughts back to the
ancient Bible story connected with the chosen people of God. A census
was taken of the tribes of Israel in the wilderness two years after
they had left Egypt. It only numbered males who were over twenty: the
men capable of active service in war. By taking a census of his
people, the Lord showed that he valued each one of them. They were
registered by their families and by their names; so they were
personally enrolled in the family book of the living God, and he, in
effect, said to each one of them, “I have called you by your name;
you are mine.” By the registration of each man by name, he felt that
he was not lost in the crowd; but was by person and pedigree
acknowledged as one of those to whom the Lord had promised the land
which flowed with milk and honey. There was good reason for taking
the number of the people just as the nation was forming, so that in
the wilderness they might be arranged, and marshalled, and
disciplined for the conflict which lay before them. When commanded by
God, because he saw that great purposes would be served by it, and
when associated with redemption, a census was by no means a wrong or
a dangerous national arrangement. David ordered the people to be
numbered, and because his motive and his method were wrong, it
brought a pestilence on the land; but, in itself, the taking of a
census was a wise and useful thing.

2.
Thirty-eight years had elapsed since the first numbering at Sinai,
and the people had come to the borders of the Promised Land; for they
were in the plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho. The time had come
for another census. The wisdom which commanded the counting of Israel
at the beginning of the wilderness journey, also determined to count
them at the end of it. This would show that God did not value them
less than in former years; it would afford proof that his word of
judgment had been fulfilled to them; and, moreover, it would marshal
them for the grand enterprise of conquering the land of Canaan. They
were to go out in their armies to fight giants, and armies versed in
war; they were to dislodge nations from their ancient strongholds,
and with the sword, to destroy guilty aboriginal nations which God
had condemned to destruction; and for this their military strength
needed numbering and ordering. Here was good reason for the census,
which now, for the second or third time, was carefully carried out.

3.
Our text is from the Book of Numbers, and the book well answers to
its title; for it continually deals with numbers and numberings. The
numbering on this occasion was not of the women and children or the
infirm; for the order ran like this, “Take the sum of all the
congregation of the children of Israel, from twenty years old and
upward, throughout their fathers house, all who are able to go to war
in Israel.” If the numbers of our churches were taken in this manner,
would they not sadly shrink? We have many sick among us who need to
be carried around, and nursed, and doctored. Half the strength of the
church goes into an ambulance service for the weak and wounded.
Another diminution of power is caused by the vast numbers of
undeveloped believers, to whom the apostle would have said, “When for
the time you ought to be teachers, you have need that one teach you
again the first principles of the oracles of God: and are become such
as have need of milk, and not of strong food.” They should have
become men, but they remain babes in grace. They are sadly slow in
reaching the fulness of the stature of men in Christ Jesus. How many
are quite unable to bear arms against the foe; for they themselves
need to be guarded from the enemy! To revise the church rolls so as
to leave no one except vigorous soldiers on the muster-roll would
make us break our hearts over our statistics. May the Lord send us,
for this evil, health and cure!

4.
When the second census was taken, it was found that the people were
nearly of the same number as at the first. Had it not been for the
punishment so justly inflicted upon them, they must have largely
increased; but now they had somewhat diminished. They were a rapidly
increasing people when they were in Egypt: the more they afflicted
them, the more they multiplied. The family of Jacob increased at a
marvellous rate from the time of the going down into Egypt to the
time of leaving that land. This was changed during the forty years of
the wilderness; for all of the grown men who came out of bondage were
judged unfit to enter into the promised land because of unbelief; and
these dying away rapidly, the people scarcely maintained their
number. It is of God to multiply a nation, or a church. We may not
expect any advance in our numbers if we grieve the Spirit of God, and
if by our unbelief we drive him to declare that we shall not prosper.
Israel’s growth ceased for forty years; may it never be so with us as
a church! We would say with Joab, “Now the Lord your God add to the
people, however many they are, a hundredfold.” May the righteous
seed multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it, until their
number shall be as countless as the sands on the sea shore, or as the
stars in the sky!

5.
Concerning the second census of Israel, I would speak with you, since
this is the morning of the day on which our British census is to be
taken. May we gather lessons of wisdom from the theme!

6.I. First, observe with interest, and with an intention to be
profited — THE NOTABLE CHANGE ACCOMPLISHED AMONG THE PEOPLE BY DEATH.
“But among these there was not a man of them whom Moses and Aaron the
priest numbered, when they numbered the children of Israel in the
wilderness of Sinai.”

7.
They answered to their names, six hundred thousand and more of them,
and there they stood in their ranks, full of vigorous life. About
forty years had elapsed, and if these same names had been read out
not a man except Caleb and Joshua could have answered to the
roll-call. The entire population of the nation had been changed. The
old ones were all gone; all who stood in their places by the Jordan
were men who were under age at the first census, or who were not even
born at that time. “Not a man of them” remained, says the text; and
it repeats the statement: “There was not a man left of them.”

8.Such changes strike us as most memorable. They must not be passed
over without remark. In the course of forty years, my brethren, what
changes take place in every community, in every church, in every
family! A friend showed me, last Thursday, a photograph of myself, in
the midst of my first deacons. It was taken scarcely thirty-eight
years ago, and yet of the entire group only I survive. Those
associates of the youthful preacher have all gone to their reward. We
have likenesses of other groups of church officers of a later date,
in which I am placed in the centre, and I am still there; but nearly
all of those who once surrounded me have gone home. Those who were
our leaders in our days of struggle, and who saw the hand of God with
us in those first years, are growing few in number. We have not yet
completed the forty years; but when we have done so, the words of our
text will be almost literally applicable to our case as a church. The
going and the coming, the adding and the taking away, have changed
the texture of this fabric; and no thread will soon be left. Surely
the Lord would have us notice this, that we may apply our hearts to
wisdom. A costly operation, involving so many sorrows, is not to be
passed over without thought. Beloved, we, too, are passing away. The
pastor and his present helpers must themselves be summoned home in
due course. The march of the generations is not a procession passing
before our eyes, while we sit, like spectators, at the window; but we
are in the procession ourselves, and we, too, are passing down the
streets of time, and shall disappear in our turn. We, too, shall
sleep with our fathers, unless the Lord shall come speedily. I hear a
clarion blast sounding out from the graves which lie behind us: “Be
also ready.” From the last closed sepulchre there comes the prophetic
warning, “Set your house in order; for you shall die, and not
live.”

9.This change was universal throughout the whole camp. There was a
change even in the enumerators. The Sinai census had been taken by
Moses and Aaron; and now Moses just remains long enough to take his
leading place; but his brother Aaron is not there; the high priest of
God has gone up to Mount Hor, has been stripped of his garments, has
been buried and mourned by all Israel, and now Eleazar his son stands
before the Lord in his father’s place. It was so among the other
priests and Levites and elders of the people. There was a change
everywhere: among the poorest dwellers in that canvas city and among
the princes who camped beneath the standards of the tribes, all had
changed. “There was not left a man of them.” So it is among
ourselves: no offices can be permanently held by the same men: “They
are not permitted to continue by reason of death.” No position,
however lofty or lowly, can retain its old possessor. It is not only
the cedars that fall, but the fir trees feel the axe. “There is no
discharge in that war.” That same scythe which cuts down the towering
flower among the grass, also sweeps down whole regiments of green
blades. See how they lie together in long rows, to wither in a common
decay! Throughout the whole body this change is gradually taking
place. No man can climb the rock of immortality, and sit there amid
the seething sea, and say to death, “Your waves cannot reach me
here!” Though vigorous in health, though sound in constitution,
though guarded by all the armour of the science of health, you too
must fall by the arrows of the insatiable archer. “It is appointed to
men once to die.”

10.The change is inevitable. Man who is born of woman must be of few
days. If it had not been for the great sin of Israel at Kadesh, many
of the people might have lived to the second census, and beyond it;
but even then if by reason of strength their lives had been
lengthened, yet they would soon have died out in the ordinary course
of nature. If forty years had not been appointed as the end of that
generation, yet without that appointment they would all have passed
away in another twenty or thirty years. As Moses said in his
wilderness psalm, “The days of our years are threescore years and
ten; and if by reason of strength they are fourscore years, yet their
strength is labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly
away.”

11.
We must soon leave our tents for the last battle. When the conscript
number shall be drawn we may escape this year, and next; but the lot
will fall upon us in due time. There is no leaping from the net of
mortality in which, like a shoal of fish, we are all enclosed. Unless
our Lord shall soon appear each one of us shall find a grave; for, as
the wise man says, “All are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.”
“We must all die, and are as water spilt on the ground, which cannot
be gathered up again.” Therefore we wisely bow before the stern
decree, and yield ourselves to death.

12.
But let us not forget that all this change was still under the
divine control. Though the people must pass away, yet still the
Lord’s hand would be in each death and its surroundings. If not a
sparrow falls to the ground without our Father’s knowledge, we may
rest assured that no man dies without the will of God; no man is
carried to his long home unless the Lord has said, “Return, you
children of men.”

What can preserve my life, or what destroy?
An angel’s arm can’t snatch me from the grave —
Legions of angels can’t confine me there.

To create and to destroy are sole prerogatives of the King of kings.
Until he speaks the word, we do not live; or living, we do not die.
Walking in the midst of ten thousand stricken with the plague, we are
safe until God appoints our departure. Concerning those who are
asleep, we know that they have not died without the will of our
Father: concerning our time also, we know that we shall not be the
toys of chance, or the victims of fate. A wise and loving God fixes
the date and place of our decease; for “precious in the sight of the
Lord is the death of his saints.” Stern though the work may be, his
great and tender heart rules the ravages of death. Let us therefore
be comforted concerning the great changes which death is working.
Here is no cause for tears, as though we were left in a monster’s
power, and bereft of a Father’s care. The Lord is still ruling, and
nothing happens except as he appoints.

13.
Moreover, the change was beneficial. It was good that the first
generation should die in the wilderness. The people who had been
accustomed to servitude in Egypt had acquired the vices of slaves;
and when they came out of the house of bondage they were fearful,
fickle, the creatures of appetite, and the victims of panic,
selfishness, and discontentment. They had all the vices of subject
peoples, and were equally destitute of manliness and self-control.
They were soon cowed by fear and baffled by difficulty. They were
easily persuaded, and as easily dissuaded. They were a people from
whom nothing could be made. Even the divine tuition in which Moses
and Aaron were engaged, and in which miracles, and types, and laws
were employed, could not teach them anything so that they really knew
it. To make a nation who could preserve the worship of the one God
in the world, the generation which came out of Egypt must die out.
The taint of slavery and idolatry must be lessened if it could not be
quite removed. It was desirable that there should be a people trained
in a better school, with a nobler spirit, fit to take possession of
the promised land. The change was working correctly: the divine
purpose was being fulfilled. May be, we do not think like this
concerning the changes which are taking place in the communities to
which we belong. We scarcely think that better men are coming on; we
even fear that the coming generation is weaker than the present: but
then, we are not fair judges; for we are prejudiced in favour of our
own generation. I do not doubt that God means well to his own church,
and that the accomplishment of his eternal purposes requires that men
should come and go, and that the face of society should be changed.
It is good that the age of man is not so protracted as in the days of
Methuselah. A teacher influential for error dies and is forgotten; a
sinner pestilential for vice passes away, and the air grows pure.
Imagine a gambler with five hundred years of craft to guide him, or a
libertine reeking with six hundred years of debauchery! Surely the
present narrowed limits of human life are all too wide for the
depraved! We need not wish for giants of iniquity such as centuries
of life would produce. The incoming of new blood into the social
frame is good in a thousand ways: it is good that we should make room
for others who may serve our Master better. May God grant that they
may! Our prayer is, “Let your work appear to your servants, and your
glory to their children.” We are content to take the work if our sons
may behold the glory: we are glad to move on so that they may rise on
stepping-stones of our ended lives to nobler things.

14.
One other remark I cannot help making, and that is, that these
changes are most instructive. If we are now serving God, let us do
so with intense earnestness, since only for a little while shall we
have the opportunity to do so among men. “Whatever your hand finds to
do, do it with your might; for there is no work, nor device, nor
knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, where you are going.” Live
while you live. At the same time, lay plans for influencing the
rising generation. Lay yourself out to work while it is called today.
If anything should be done, it would be good that it were done
quickly. If we wish truth to conquer, and the gospel to prevail,
let us fight the Lord’s battles now; and if we would see truth
prevail after we are gone, let us seek out faithful young men, who
will teach others also, that the testimony for the Lord God of Israel
does not die out of the land. We must soon leave the field. Let
each man set his house in order, for he must soon leave it to be
gazed upon by strangers’ eyes. Let us see that our life-work is
rounded off and well finished, so that in the survey of it by our
successors they may say of us, “He being dead yet speaks.” Since we
must soon be gone from among the living, let us bless them while we
may. Arise, you saints, and bestir yourselves; for the day is far
spent, and the shadows of evening are falling. I pray that we may
learn well this first lesson of our text. Oh Spirit of life, teach us
life even by the doings of death!

15.II. Secondly, we have here before us THE PERPETUITY OF THE PEOPLE
OF GOD.

16.
There was a change in the constituent elements of the Israelite
nation, but the nation was still there. Not one man was there who was
counted thirty-eight years before, except Caleb and Joshua, and yet
the nation was the same. Do you ask for Israel? There it is. Balaam
can see the people from the top of the hill, and they are the same
people whom Pharaoh pursued to the Red Sea. The nation is living,
though a nation has died. It is the same chosen seed of Abraham with
whom Jehovah is in covenant. God has a church in the world, and he
will have a church in the world until time shall be no more. The
gates of hell and the jaws of death shall not prevail against the
church, though each one of its members must depart out of this world
in his turn.

17.
Note well, that “the church in the wilderness” lives on. There
are the same twelve tribes, the same standards heading the tribes,
the same tabernacle in the midst of the host, and the same priesthood
celebrating sacred service with solemn pomp. Everything has changed
and yet nothing has altered. God has built his holy habitation upon
foundations which can never be removed. Although the men who bear the
ark of the covenant of the Lord bear other names, yet they fulfil the
same office. The music of the sanctuary rises and falls, but the
strain goes on. The hallelujah never ceases, nor is there a pause in
the perpetual chorus, “His mercy endures for ever.”

18.The gaps were filled up by appointed successors. As one warrior
died another man stepped into his place, even as one wave dying on
the shore is pursued by another. The men were not all swept away at
once, but by perceptible degrees. Now and then there came an awful
and sudden destruction, as when Korah, Dathan, and Abiram went down
alive into the pit; but, as a rule, the people dropped off gradually,
as ripe fruit falls from the trees, and they were succeeded by others
as the fading leaves of autumn have the buds of spring just beneath
them. In the church of God one dies in the order of nature, but
another is born into the kingdom by the power of grace. We miss some
useful Christian woman, and we lament her; but before many days
another sister is prepared by the Lord to serve in her place. Baptism
for the dead never ceases among us. An honoured brother falls asleep,
and we carry him to the grave; and possibly we fear no one else can
do his work, and fill the vacancy he leaves. Perhaps no one can do
the same work; but yet, in some way or other the work is done; and
still the vines are trimmed, the sheep are fed, and the lambs are
cherished. No one dead man lies in the way to stop the march of the
army, as did the corpse of Amasa, which lay gory in the road in
David’s day. The chosen host still marches on. Even as the stars in
their courses, we still move on. God buries his workmen, but his
work lives.

19.
In Israel’s case the gaps were filled by their own sons. As these
men passed away their children took their places. I commend to you,
my brethren, this fact as your encouragement in prayer for your
children. Oh, that the Lord would pour his Spirit upon our seed, and
his blessing upon our offspring! Oh, that every saint here may be
succeeded by his own descendants! This is the Lord’s frequent way of
keeping alive the gracious succession. Abraham is gone, but Isaac
still kindles the altar fire. In a blind old age Isaac is gathered to
his fathers, but Jacob worships “the fear of his father Isaac.” Jacob
gathers up his feet in the bed, but Judah and Joseph, and the rest of
them, continue as a salt in the earth. Oh, that it may be so in all
our families! May we never lack a man to stand before the Lord God of
Israel to testify for him! Among all the honours that God can put
upon our households I think this is the greatest, that we should have
in our families a succession of saints. It is a great privilege to
look back and to remember our ancestors who feared the Lord: may we
also look forward with hope that, if this age lasts, there may still
be some of our name, bearing our blood in their veins, who shall be
called by sovereign grace into the service we have loved so well.
Search beyond the congregation for new converts, but do not forget to
look within your own doors for the largest additions to the church.
Hope that your sons and daughters after the flesh may be born into
the “one family in heaven and earth,” which bears the name of Jesus.
Pray that your children may be God’s children, and may your prayer
come up with acceptance into the ears of the Lord our God, whose
mercy is on children’s children of those who fear him, and keep his
covenant!

20.All the offices of “the church in the wilderness” were filled with
fitting men. Behold Aaron, in his robes of glory and beauty! What a
man he is to be the High Priest! With what grace and dignity he
presides! He dies: will not the priesthood fail? No, my brethren.
Over there is Eleazar, who occupies his father’s place most worthily.
Moses also passes away. There is no one like Moses. He is king in
Jeshurun, without peer or rival. The Jews have a tradition that when
he was called to go up to the top of Nebo to die, the people followed
him up the hill, the women beating on their breasts, and uttering
bitter wailings, while the strong men bowed themselves with grief,
and cried, “The father of the nation is to be taken away! Alas, what
shall we do?” He was told to leave the people on the mountain side,
and he went up alone to the place where Jehovah kissed away his soul,
and so he passed into his rest. Truly it was a great loss, but the
Lord found a man to follow Moses. Joshua was not equal to Moses in
many things; and yet for the work he had to do he was a much more fit
man than Moses. The times were red with war, and Joshua was more able
than Moses to fight the Canaanites and conquer the land. Joshua was
the man for the sword, as Moses had been the man of the book. And God
will fill every office in his church, not as you and I might wish,
but as his infinite wisdom determines. Therefore let us be of good
courage, and fear no lack.

21.
At this second numbering, the people stood ready for greater work
than they had ever done before. The first numbering found them fit
for the wilderness: the second numbering found them ready for the
capture of the goodly land and Lebanon. God had been preparing them,
by forty years of marching, for their new enterprise, and for
development into a nation. May it please the Lord to make his church
ready for the coming of her Lord, and for the salvation of nations!
If brighter days are dawning, the church will be prepared as a
bride for her husband; and if tribulation is to come to try all the
earth, she shall be strengthened as a martyr for the burning. The
Lord does keep her: lest anyone harms her he will keep her night and
day.

22.
It was Israel’s joy that God’s love was not withdrawn from the
nation. The Lord still acknowledged the tribes as his people. His
glory was still above the mercy seat, and his fiery-cloudy pillar
still guided their marchings or fixed their haltings. Still the manna
dropped from heaven, and still they drank the water from the smitten
rock. So the Lord still has a church, and it is always the same
church, loved by her Lord, indwelt by his Spirit, and dedicated to
his praise. Let us take courage: the church is not destroyed. Many
changes take place, and many sorrows are involved in it, but the
church of God is as ever-living as her immortal Head, who has
declared, “Because I live, you shall live also.” Still, her stars are
the hope of the world’s night, and her angels are the heralds of the
eternal morning. She follows the bleeding lamb, who is the doctrine
of her teaching, the model of her acting, the glory of her hope.

23.III. Thirdly, let me bring before your minds THE UNCHANGEABLENESS
OF THE WORD OF GOD. We perceive this in the last verse. “For the Lord
had said of them, ‘They shall surely die in the wilderness.’ And
there was not a man left of them, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh,
and Joshua the son of Nun.”

24.
Note how unchangeable are the threatenings of the Lord. “Among
these there was not a man of them whom Moses and Aaron the priest
numbered. For the Lord had said of them, ‘They shall surely die in
the wilderness.’ ” Take note of this, you who think God’s word can
fail: you do not know what you are dreaming. His words of righteous
wrath are not lost: they kill as with a two-edged sword. The verse
says, “There was not a man left of them.” Whom the Lord had
condemned to die, nothing could keep alive. Therefore, do not
imagine, oh you who do not obey the Lord, that you shall go
unpunished!

25.
The unbelievers were many, yet not one escaped. “Though hand joins in
hand, the wicked shall not be unpunished.” The rebels were a
terribly large majority, but the crowds in the broad way make it none
the safer. God has no respect for multitudes; “The wicked shall be
turned into hell, and all the nations who forget God.” Here they
outnumbered the faithful more than ten thousand times; and yet the
justice of God did not spare one of them. “There was not a man left
of them.” How can any of you hope to escape? “Your hand shall find
out all your enemies.” The proudest sinner shall be laid low: the
thunders of Jehovah shall strike down each individual transgressor,
and no one shall go away free in the day of God’s wrath.

26.
It was a long time before all the sinners died; but the longsuffering
of God had its limit, and in the end every rebel died in the
wilderness. They lived on, some of them, for all the forty years; but
they could not pass the boundary. Perhaps they said, “Ah! this ban
from God will never take effect on us.” Yet, before the years were
up, the survivors of the doomed nation had to share the common fate.
Not a man of those whom Moses and Aaron numbered at Sinai could pass
the line of fire which closed in the forty years. God waits, waits in
infinite mercy; but the punishment of the wicked is none the less
sure. “Their foot shall slide in due time.” “The Lord has bent his
bow, and made it ready,” and when their hour is come, they shall find
that he is not slack concerning his word. Please do not doubt the
terrible certainty of divine threatenings because they are long in
taking effect. Do not say, “Where is the promise of his coming?” He
will come; and when he comes it shall be “in flaming fire taking
vengeance on those who do not know God, and who do not obey the
gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

27.
Some of the unbelieving generation were, no doubt, full of vigour,
and they said, “We are as strong as old Caleb, and quite as likely as
he to cross the Jordan. Our eyes are as clear as those of Moses, and
we shall outlive the forty years appointed to us.” But death chilled
the coals of juniper, and quenched their vehement flame. The stalwart
man of war laid down his weapons, vanquished by the unconquerable foe
of men. “There was not a man left of them.” How like a death knell
those words sound in my ears! The mighty in the day of battle were
no longer mighty when their hour had come. “They could not enter in
because of unbelief”; but “their carcasses fell in the wilderness.”
All their days were passed away in the wrath of God. Beware, you who
forget God, lest he tears you in pieces, and there is no one to
deliver. It is vain for you to indulge a hope, “larger” or “smaller,”
if you die in your sin. The justice of the Most High is not to be
escaped. In that last great day, when the throne shall be set, and
every man shall give an account for the things done in his body,
whether they are good or whether they are evil, the strict Judge will
by no means clear the guilty, but they shall be driven away in his
wrath to the place where their worm does not die, and their fire is
not quenched. Oh that you would flee to Christ for refuge! Please
look to his cross so that you may be saved!

28.
Just as the Lord fulfilled his threatenings, so he caused his
promises to come to pass. Caleb lived on, and so did Joshua. They
were often in danger. Did not the rebels take up stones to stone
them? They were often near to death: Joshua was commander-in-chief
of the army, and Caleb was a man of war from his youth up. They
endured the common risks of soldiers; but nothing could kill them,
for God had promised that they should enter the land. They believed
God and honoured him by their conduct, and therefore he kept them
until the hour came to go into the land to possess it. There were
only two of them; but therefore God did not overlook them. He keeps
covenant with individuals as well as with nations. They were not
men who kept themselves out of harm’s way, neither were they
timorous, and therefore afraid to advance their opinions. No doubt
they came in for a special share of envy and malice, but their reward
with God was certain. If you believe in Jesus, though you should be
the only one of your family, yet you shall be saved. Though you know
none of your kith and kin who fear the Lord, yet the God of Israel
will not forget the lone one who is separated from his brethren.
Though the faithful should become so few that all the saints together
should only make a handful, yet it is written, “Do not fear, little
flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”

29.
God’s word stands. “The grass withers, and its flower falls away: but
the word of the Lord endures for ever. And this is the word which by
the gospel is preached to you.” Jehovah’s threatenings and promises
are of equal force. “Has he said, and shall he not do it?” There
shall be no change even to a jot or tittle in this wondrous book. God
forbid that we should begin to doubt it; for if we once begin, where
shall we end? With this striking confirmation before us, we believe
that the word of the Lord must stand. Let us be as the man whom the
Lord blesses, because, he says, “he trembles at my word.”

30.IV. Our last point is this: learn from my text THE CONTINUAL
NECESSITY OF FAITH.

31.
Those people came out of Egypt with Moses, and were all baptized to
Moses in the cloud and in the sea when they came out into the
wilderness. One would have hoped that they all would march to Canaan,
but it was not so. The first census is taken, their names are on the
roll; but, sad to say, at the next numbering all those names have
vanished. What a difference between the church roll at Sinai and the
book of life by Jordan!

32.
If you profess to be the people of God, we count you among his
children: you are written among the living in Zion; but what an awful
thing it would be if your name should not be written in the Lamb’s
Book of Life at the last! What if you should lie on the
threshing-floor in the great heap before the winnowing, but should be
gone with the chaff as soon as the Lord has come, “whose fan is in
his hand!” Oh, that none of us may provoke the Lord to swear in his
wrath that we shall not enter into his rest!

33.
Learn, first, that no man is, was, or ever shall be saved without
faith. “He who does not believe shall be damned” is our Lord’s
solemn declaration. It is written, “He who does not believe is
condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the
only-begotten Son of God.” This is as true today as when it was first
spoken.

34.
Learn, next, that no privilege can make up for the lack of faith.
We read that they heard, as you do; but “some, when they had heard,
did provoke.” Their provocation lay mainly in their unbelief. No
hearing, indeed, not hearing the apostles themselves, could save you
without faith. “The word preached did not profit them, not being
mixed with faith in those who heard it.” Hearing may minister to
condemnation if the truth is not believed.

35.
These people went a certain way with Moses towards the Lord’s
promised rest. They came out of Egypt, they were numbered with
Jehovah’s people, in the numbering at Sinai, they were separated from
all the world in the solitude of the wilderness; but we read there
was in them “an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living
God.” In heart they went back into Egypt. It is not enough to begin
well: “he who endures to the end shall be saved,” and no one else.
They had ceremonies in abundance, but they were not saved by them.
They had the morning and the evening lambs; they were circumcised;
they ate the Passover; they kept the Day of Atonement; but all these
things together did not save them from dying in the desert, shut out
of Canaan by unbelief. “They could not enter in because of unbelief.”
Nothing can make up for the absence of faith. They had nothing to
do all the day long in the wilderness, but to learn the lessons of
God. They had time for thought, and they had the best of teachers to
instruct them, and the best of school-books in the ceremonial law,
and yet their knowledge did not preserve them from leaving their
carcasses in the desert. They had plenty of time for meditation and
contemplation; they had no care about temporals, for their bread was
given to them, and their waters were certain; and yet because of lack
of faith they did not learn that elementary truth which would have
ministered to them an entrance into rest.

36.
But no one perished who had faith; no, not one. All those who
believed God, and held firmly to him, were made heirs of the land.
Caleb and Joshua — these two saw the land, and took their places in it.
If you believe, whatever your name may be, you shall be saved; for
“he who believes and is baptized shall be saved.” It is written,
“Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved.” Caleb and
Joshua by faith entered into the land promised to the fathers, and
you, my hearer, can only enter in by faith. Have faith in God, and
you have all things; but without faith it is impossible to please God.

37.
Note this: while it was faith alone which saved them, faith gave
these men notable characters. We read of “my servant Caleb.” He
who believes God becomes a servant of God, and considers it all joy
to obey his Lord. Faith is the mother of obedience. The Lord said
that Caleb “had another spirit within him”: faith puts quite another
spirit into a man: it is not a murmuring or a mutinous spirit; it is
not an ungrateful or unbelieving spirit; neither is it a haughty,
wilful, rebellious spirit; but it is a spirit of love, of hope, of
confidence in God. The faithful man is of another spirit from that of
the world; for the Holy Spirit resides in him. Such a man chooses the
way of God, so that the Lord says, “He has followed me fully.” This
was good: it is wise not to run before God, nor to run away from
God, but to follow him step by step. It is wise not to follow man
but to follow the Lord entirely. It is commendable to follow him
fully with undivided, unwavering, unquestioning, untiring step. The
Lord will see that his servant Caleb enters into his rest: there is
rest for good servants. Since Caleb followed the Lord fully, it was
fitting that he should enter in where his Lord resides. Men of
faith are not idle men, but servants: they are not wicked men, but
they follow the Lord; they are not half-hearted men, they follow him
fully. It is not their holiness that saves them; but their faith
saves them: nevertheless, where there is no holiness, there is no
fruit of faith, and no evidence of salvation.

38.
As for Joshua, he was like Caleb. He was a brave and truthful man, a
true servant of God; and though we have his life given somewhat at
length, yet we discover no flaw in his character. It is almost a rare
thing in the Word of God to find a life written at any length without
a record of infirmity and sin; for the biographies of Scripture are
truthful, and they mention men’s faults as well as their virtues.
Since there is no recorded fault in Joshua’s career, we gather that
he was of a noble character. “The Lord said to Moses, ‘Take Joshua
the son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay your hand upon
him.’ ” So that the faith which took these two men into Canaan was the
creator of a noble character in them.

39.
Now, what do you say, beloved friends? Do you believe God? Do you
believe his Word? Or are you of a captious and dubious spirit? Do you
believe like children? Is God your Father, and therefore is his Word
your Father’s Word, which you cannot think of questioning? Will you
follow the Lamb wherever he goes, against giants or Canaanites? Will
you believe God, no matter who doubts him? If so, you shall dwell in
the land that flows with milk and honey, and you shall have your
portion when the Lord appears. But if you do not truly believe,
whatever profession you may make, your carcasses must fall in the
wilderness. Woe is me that I have to deliver such a prophecy! Greater
woe to you if it should be fulfilled in you. Believe the Lord, and
you shall prosper. Today as you are preparing for the census of the
nation, remember the time when God shall make up his last account of
natives in his holy city. Will you be numbered with his people, or
will your names be left out at the reading of the muster-roll? May
God give us a place among his redeemed, and to his name shall be
glory for ever and ever! Amen.

Spirit of the PsalmsPsalm 871 God in his earthly temple lays
Foundations for his heavenly praise;
He likes the tents of Jacob well,
But still in Zion loves to dwell.
2 His mercy visits every house
That pay their night and morning vows;
But makes a more delightful stay
Where churches meet to praise and pray.
3 What glories were described of old!
What wonders are of Zion told!
Thou city of our God below,
Thy fame shall Tyre and Egypt know!
4 Egypt and Tyre, and Greek and Jew,
Shall there begin their lives anew:
Angels and men shall join to sing
The hill where living waters spring.
5 When God makes up his last account
Of natives in his holy mount,
‘Twill be an honour to appear
As one new born or nourish’d there.
Isaac Watts, 1719.

Church, Christian Fellowship888 — The Communion Of Saints<7s.>1 Partners of a glorious hope,
Lift your hearts and voices up;
Jointly let us rise and sing
Christ our Prophet, Priest, and King.
Monuments of Jesus’ grace,
Speak we by our lives his praise,
Walk in him we have received;
Show we not in vain believed.
2 While we walk with God in light,
God our hearts doth still unite;
Dearest fellowship we prove,
Fellowship in Jesus’ love:
Sweetly each, with each combined,
In the bonds of duty join’d,
Feels the cleansing blood applied,
Daily feels that Christ hath died.
3 Still, oh Lord, our faith increase;
Cleanse from all unrighteousness:
Thee the unholy cannot see:
Make, oh make us meet for thee!
Every vile affection kill;
Root out every seed of ill;
Utterly abolish sin;
Write thy law of love within.
4 Hence may all our actions flow;
Love the proof that Christ we know:
Mutual love the token be.
Lord, that we belong to thee:
Love, thine image, love impart!
Stamp it on our face and heart!
Only love to us be given;
Lord, we ask no other heaven.
Charles Wesley, 1740.

Spirit of the PsalmsPsalm 901 Our God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come;
Our shelter from the stormy blast,
And our eternal home!
2 Under the shadow of thy throne
Thy saints have dwelt secure;
Sufficient is thine arm alone,
And our defence is sure.
3 Before the hills in order stood,
Or earth received her frame,
From everlasting thou art God,
To endless years the same.
4 A thousand ages in thy sight
Are like an evening gone;
Short as the watch that ends the night
Before the rising sun.
5 Time, like an ever-rolling stream,
Bears all its sons away;
They fly forgotten, as a dream
Dies at the opening day.
6 Like flowery fields the nations stand,
Pleased with the morning light:
The flowers beneath the mower’s hand
Lie withering ere ‘tis night.
7 Our God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come;
Be thou our guard while troubles last,
And our eternal home!
Isaac Watts, 1719.

Spurgeon Sermons

These sermons from Charles Spurgeon are a series that is for reference and not necessarily a position of Answers in Genesis. Spurgeon did not entirely agree with six days of creation and dives into subjects that are beyond the AiG focus (e.g., Calvinism vs. Arminianism, modes of baptism, and so on).